Ankle support for boots and shoes



F. VALLERY ANKLE SUPPORT FOR BOOTS AND SHOES Filed July lO 1923 INVENTR Patented Dec. 2, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANKLE SUPPORT FOR BOOTS AND SHOES.

Application filed July 10, 1923,

To all fro/tom t may concern.:

Be it known that I, FRANK VALLERY, of Belwood, in the county of Wellington, Province of Ontario, Canada, a subject of the King of Great Britain, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ankle Supports for Boots and Shoes, ofr

which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to devices used in boots and shoes, and particularly boots used for skating, for supporting the ankle. Various arrangements for this purpose are known, and while a certain measure of support is given to prevent sidewise movement, this cannot be taken full advantage of as owing to their construction they not only tend to prevent sidewise movement, but also,

which is very objectionable, tend to prevent the natural ilexing from front to back and back to front.

The object of my invention is therefore to devise an ankle support which may be readily built into a boot during its manufacture or which may be readily subsequently inserted, and which will give very great support to the ankle in preventing sidewise movement, but which will not interfere with the natural flexing from front to back and back to front.

I attain my object by means of the coni structions hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which- Fig. l is a longitudinal section of a boot showing the ankle support therein; and

Fig. 2 a longitudinal sectional detail.

l is a boot, which may be of any ordinary type. In this boot is inserted the ankle support 9., This support may either be huilt into the boot during its manufacture or it niay be inserted subsequently by nailing its lower edges to the sole of the boot or stitching to the vamp and counter or both, the important point being` that the boot and support must not move vertically relative to one another.

The support, it will be noted, extends from the heel forwardly along the sides of the boot to a point well towards the toe, and upwardly substantially to the top ofthe upper.

Serial No. 650,602.

The support may be manufactured of relatively stiff leather, but is preferably manufactured of rubber or rubber substitute or a combination of fabric and rubber or rubber substitute. I find that rubber is preferable to leather as the latter much more quickly accommodates itself to the shape of the foot and loses its effect.

The support, it will be noted from Fig. 2, is of quite thick material, while the back portion is of greater thickness still, this eX- tr. thickness being obtained by a stifl'ening ri 3.

As will be seen from Fig. 2, the forward edges of the support are skived and extend substantially only to the sides of the tongue 4, so that when the boot is laced up, the support and tongue form substantially a. continuous band without any overlapping.

From the construction described it will be seen that I have devised an ankle support -which will have a portion arranged vertically at the back of the foot, at the point where the greatest amount of support is necessary, which will be diiiicultto flex side* ways and which will give great support to the ankle. The side portions are also quite stift' and tend to retain the ankle in position to obtain the support of the very stiff back portion.

Additional support may be obtained by winding the end of the shoe laces two or three times around the top of the boot and to prevent the lace slipping up over the top of the boot at the back, I provide the boot with a hook 5 which engages over the lace and stops this upward slipping.

What I claim as my invention is An ankle support for boots and slmcs (':oin'prising an integral piece of relatiiffely intrinsically stifl' material extending from the heel of the boot towards the toc thereof and from the sole at least snbslanl'ially to the top of the upper of the boot, said support having a substantially smooth inner surface, said support being of greater thickness in the vertical line of the back of the heel than in the other parts thereof.

Signed at Galt, Ont., this 27 day of June,

FRANK VALLERY. 

